Title

Files

Author

Faculty Advisors

Resnick, Andrew

Description

Muons are important due to the abundance of them on earth. Muons that are on earth originate from the Sun and enter Earth’s atmosphere as decaying cosmic rays. Muons are somewhat unstable, with a lifespan of roughly 2.2 microseconds. Muons decay into electrons and two types of neutrinos. Since Muons travel near the speed of light they can still go thousands of meters into the Earth’s crust before stopping. Muons account for most of the cosmic radiation at sea level. Muons are harmless to humans. In this study, we built detectors and measured muon counts at different elevations. This research project was inspired by Cosmic Watch, which was funded by MIT in 2016. These detectors are inexpensive to make compared to previous models. There are three main components of the detector which are the Arduino Nano, scintillator and photodector. We find that the higher in altitude the higher the count rate is on the detector. Theses detectors can encourage future students and classes at Cleveland State University to pursue physics.